Social media coordinator
summit sotheby’s international realty
from scratch
Goals from the get go
-
Walking into the role, there were light content pillars carved out, but no direct social strategy in place. One initial goal was to establish sustainable content pillars after evaluating our target audience, not only of our current and loyal followers but who we wanted to reach moving forward.
We had no social data to refer to so the first step was to just take the first step, gather data along the way and after a couple months of consistency, gather that information and pivot if needed.
-
A large challenge we faced was that the existing channels didn’t have a target audience in place. Was the page for perspective buyers? Our agents? Other agents in competitive markets? All of the above?
We landed on a semi-inner facing platform that would help boost agents properties and developments, while showcasing the power of the brand to help recruit new agents.
A couple months in, we received a comment on a Property Feature post from Ed Razek, the former CMO of Victoria’s Secret. He was interested in the price of the Park City home.
From there, we knew we could grow to a place where we could be selling our homes to billionaires on social media. Challenging the preconceived idea from internal stake holders that this could only be internal.
Our current goals are broad but many pillars double dip. Showcasing agents homes to give them a boost, showcase our beautiful properties, and with strategic following and engagement, attract luxury buyers.
-
Another roadblock was no clear brand voice. Of course there are many materials on our messaging in our listing presentations or Collections Magazine, but nothing in the short-term digital space. How do you say that in one sentence in a caption that doesn’t seem stuffy or unapproachable?
This is what we came to terms on:
Approachable
Inspiring, not intimidating
Relatable
Short, punchy, engaging
Thoughtful, not just checking a box
Heart felt
Great vocabulary, well spoken
Sophisticated
-
The expectation from the get go was to post one-off daily Social Media requests via HelpScout. These would range from Just Sold to Testimonial graphics. Additionally, manage and post 3 macro-pillared posts on 450+ agents accounts creating an automated social media white glove service for agents.
The goal was to ramp up these pillars and create interesting, intentional material that would serve the macro audience of a Summit Sotheby’s agent.
Below I go into detail of that strategy.
-
Systems weren’t set in place for a sustainable foundation of growth so my goal was to first do an audit of all relevant documents, manuals, and platforms for social services. From there, review and update any relevant information and relay to the team for a seamless transition to the newly built out social media department
Case Study: Hootsuite
effecient operations & Time management
With the expectation of posting and managing 450+ social media accounts, there needed to be a system in place to handle that frequency of posting. Walking into the role, our current posting platform, Sendible had a 90% bounce rate with mass posting. The expectation to undergo this process 3x/week, I knew that operating out of Sendible was going to be tricky.
Solution 1: Audit Sendible’s Capacity
Sendible’s capacity for a mass post was 9 accounts without bouncing. I created groups (see image below) which were able to be sent out every 5 minutes with little to no bouncing. With this system, roughly 17 accounts bounced per mass post but it varied. Additionally, there is a set scheduled time for each group as well as the 1-3 grouping number. The 1-3 grouping indicates which group will receive content from 1, 2, 3 allowing for that diversity factor we are trying to manage as well. These posts will disperse between 9am-11:20am, varying days equalling out 3 day per week.
The only problem was the efficiency. This was a hefty process and even at the most streamlined, each post took roughly 2.5 hours.
That’s 7.5 hours/week for 3 posts.
What could we accomplish with that time back?
Solution 2: A New Platform
I knew that if were going to accomplish all of our social goals then we would need to find a way to create more efficiency for mass posting. With approval, I began to take meetings and learn more about other platforms that would be able to hand the level of power we needed.
After multiple meetings with Hootsuite, Sprout and Loomly, I’m proud to say that we were granted a 2 year contract with Hootsuite. A major win for the social department. The capacity Hootsuite was able to handle gave us the ability to adopt the Las Vegas, Desert, and Crest Sotheby’s social platforms and their agents creating even more than anticipated efficiency across the Majestic Realty Collective.
9 months later, we have successfully streamlined mass posting. Taking only 30 minutes per mass post, this allows us hours back in the weekly social calendar to execute additional goals.
macro vs micro
agent consultations
goals
2. Macro vs micro distribution
We kept the pillars small and precise and allowed it to flow seamlessly with her lifestyle so she didn’t need to take time away for posting. We created a personal goal of 3 months and would assess after to see how much capacity that took. If she had more space, we could add more pillars and readjust to what her following was engaging with via Hootsuite Analytics.
4. implementation & accountability
3. content pillars
The goal was to offer as many social media services to our agents as possible, not only do we post a wide variety of content on their pages 3x/week but truly growing their individual brands and social maturity. This was an impossible feat for one person, but we were going to try! We created a system of Macro and Micro content - Macro-content pillars that would apply to the entirety of agents and then create a unique strategy of Micro-content pillars that was honed in on that individual agents goals. From there the agents would submit these ideas into our graphic designers for build out and then I would write copy and post on their behalf. This was a fool-proof strategy for post consistency, quality, and relevancy.
Below we will use the example of an Agent named Sally. Sally had many concerns about social media but she knew that she needed to utilize social media for her business. We set up a complimentary 30-minute agent consultation where we can discuss her goals and how the marketing department can help her attain them. Sally’s concerns were that she was afraid of getting too overwhelmed from managing a personal account and a professional account. Sally is always busy with her family and running her book club so she wants this all to be streamlined. Sally’s goals were to educate her following, have social media as a tool to gain more clientele, and have fun while doing it.
I always tell agents that social media works for you - not the other way around. Don’t compare yourself to what others are doing because in the end, people are following you for you. Social media is just another tool for your business like a website or print marketing, it doesn’t have to be anything more. We decided to keep her personal account and just post casual work materials on the page. We created a strategy that worked for Sally that wasn’t too overwhelming but helped keep consistency on her page all while keeping it personal enough to relate and connect.
Macro-Pillars
Holiday
New Weekly Listings Reel
Monthly Market Statistics
Relevant Corporate News
Relevant Corporate Events
Monthly Top Headlines
Marketing Department Materials
Videography Monthly Update
Lifestyle of Utah
Luxury Feature Series
Sotheby’s Auction House
Collection’s Magazine Editorial
Sally’s Micro-Pillars
Family
A casual selfie or photo of the family out doing an activity or making dinner. This kept her page personal and really showcased who she is to her current and potential future clients.
Book Club
Share the current book and a review video or graphic after reading (think Reese’s Book Club).
Monthly Educational Carousel
Contracts, loan opportunities, current market updates, interesting facts or strategies.
Client Testimonials
Success stories from past clients.
The nUmbers
Here are just some of the staggering numbers after beginning the entirety of the social media strategy for Summit Sotheby’s International Realty accounts as well as the social accounts spanning across the Majestic Realty Collective.
Instagram following Before & After
9 Months before start date
Work Start Date
2023 Engagement Rate
as seen in
8 Months after Start Date
-Hootsuite
@summitsir
Content Creation
Below is a side-by-side comparison of how we have implemented all of our content pillars and how everything looks as a whole - highlighting some wins after adjustments in strategy.
December 2023
Inspiring & Heartfelt Holiday
132 Likes
Statement Announcements
106 Likes / 10 Comments
Intentional Lifestyle
February 2023
184 Likes / 13 Comments
Generic Holiday
18 Likes / 1 Comment
Blanket Lifestyle
27 Likes / 0 Comments
Case Study: Holidays
Holidays are a pillar that many, if not all, companies will have in their content policy. The issue is that it is almost an expectation and many companies throw something together just for the sake of it. I wanted to take this one step further and create moving and meaningful pieces that our audience would know that we care. From the execution to the quality of materials, from the copy to being punctual when posting - it all matters.
To our right, a Hanukkah reel for our growing jewish community in and around Summit Sotheby’s International Realty.
2023 Labor Day Post
Triple-dip
Voice: Thoughtful, Intentional, Relevant.
Pillar: Lifestyle, Holiday, & Heritage
Strategy: On a day like a holiday, people will be scrolling past many generic corporate posts. With a heritage of brand and a rich history of the founding town of Summit Sotheby’s, my thought was to combine pillars into a unique piece that can speak to the history of the town with relevance to a national holiday.
2022 Labor Day Post
Make a statement
We, as a company, are so fortunate to have the opportunity to be featured in publications such as Architectural Digest, Mansion Global, Rob Report, Dwell, and many news publications. Ultimately after many revisions, we decided to make a statement with these
As we fine tuned the look and feel for our digital presence, we knew there would need to be a statement piece. A graphic for announcements and eye-catching statements without it taking away from the rest of pieces on the grid. After much back and
Lastly, we wanted there to be more opportunity to catch a viewers eye without there being words and graphics splattered all over page, tarnishing our look and feel. We are a luxury real estate company and we wanted to convey that feeling with complete
types of posts creating a splash on the timeline. This allows the presence of these incredible publications be known at a larger scale on the grid showcasing the power of the brand.
135 Likes
Make a Mark
Make a Difference
forth, we decided to go with a transparent, brand blue cover with heavy margins, creating an poppy, yet elegant feature that would stand the test of time as we evolve in our social maturity.
237 Likes / 3 Comments
beauty on the page since many follow for beauty alone. I thought of the idea of ‘tabs’, a little blue tab that would blend seamlessly, keeping an elegant and not salesy feel, informing the viewer that there is more to view.
133 Likes
